Cowans Gap is now without lifeguards

Tuesday

The echoes of children laughing and splashing at area state park beaches can still be heard, but the whistles of lifeguards keeping them under control are gone.

The echoes of children laughing and splashing at area state park beaches can still be heard, but the whistles of lifeguards keeping them under control are gone.

Some people think it would be better to have “an extra set of eyes” on their children to keep them safe in the water, but others say it’s the parents’ job to keep their little ones under control

Cowans Gap is one of 15 state parks added to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources “open swim policy” pilot program in January 2008.

Thirty-seven beaches in the state now have an “unguarded open swim,” according to Christine Novak, DCNR press secretary. Other area state parks added to the list in January include Pine Grove Furnace in York County and Gifford Pinchot in Cumberland County.

Caledonia State Park has a guarded pool. Presque Isle in Erie still has lifeguards due to waves and different water hazards.

Auditor General Jack Wagner is pushing for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to return lifeguards to the beaches. He feels parents are not well-equipped to save their children’s lives in “dark and murky” natural bodies of water.

Keeping control

“I don’t think parents keep close enough watch on their kids,” an 18-year-old Shade Gap girl, who asked to remain anonymous, said at Cowans Gap State Park in Fulton County Monday afternoon.

The girl and her friends, Lauren Wright, 18, and Katie Hockenberry, 19, feel there is more control at the 500-foot sand beach when lifeguards are on duty.

“There’s not as much horsing around,” Wright said.

The teens said there are too many people around on the weekend and feel it would be safer if lifeguards were manning the beach during busy times. Park manager Stephen Behe said park rangers patrol the area frequently.

Christy McDermott of Nesquehoning said she has never relied on lifeguards to watch her three young children and always keeps a close eye on them.

“We live near another state park that is guarded, but when you only have three lifeguards and a couple hundred kids, it’s hard to keep track,” she said.

Open swim policy

Novak explained the open swim program has been evaluated based on customer service response and safety policies over a 10-year period.

“We started implementing it in 1998,” she said. “The real issue was actually finding lifeguards, especially at the end of the season with the kids going on vacation and going back to school.”

She said a lot of the parks already had open swim policies or “swim at your own risk” in the evenings when the lifeguards would go home after their shifts were over. Novak added that a lot of people like the open swim policy because it gives them longer hours to cool off in the water and a longer swim season.

Cutting the lifeguards at the additional 15 parks saved DCNR an estimated $800,000, which has been re-routed to other operational costs to run the park system, according to Novak. She stressed the lack of lifeguards was the primary reason for the policy change, not the money.

“As the state’s fiscal watchdog, I commend DCNR officials for trying to make sure that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and effectively,” Wagner said in a May 14 report to DCNR.

“However, in this case, I am certain that the saving of one life outweighs the potential $800,000 in annual savings that DCNR has cited to justify its actions. I strongly urge DCNR to reconsider its decision, and I would encourage the General Assembly to consider strengthening state law to require the presence of lifeguards at all state park beaches.”

Novak said DCNR is working with the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with similar open swim policies with a “relatively good safety record since 1998.”

She said the department is constantly evaluating customer satisfaction and safety and feels the program has been a success so far this season. In response to Wagner’s proposal, the department will continue to evaluate the program.

Two boys have drowned at state parks over the past 10 years, and lifeguards were on duty in both cases, according to state officials.

Be careful

Behe urges all parents to be careful with their children while they are visiting any of the state parks. He said all children should be under direct supervision and everyone must swim within the buoyed area. He added that most tall people are fine in the 6-feet-deep roped-off area, but it’s the smaller children who need to be more careful.

“Always be careful when you’re down there at the beach whether there’s a guard there or not,” he cautioned. “If you’re not a strong swimmer, stay in the shallow end, use a personal floatation device or swim with a friend.”

Behe said there’s a lot of family interaction at Cowans Gap State Park and a ranger is “roving through there pretty much constantly.”

A few weeks ago, two rangers at Cowans Gap had to rescue an intoxicated man who swam beyond the buoys. Behe said he was told several times to swim back to shore, but was in distress. He said those incidents don’t happen often since no one is allowed to be at the park while intoxicated.

Shane Anthony Metcalfe, 25, of Mercersburg is charged with disorderly conduct, public drunkenness and swimming outside the designated area as a result of the incident around 3 p.m. on June 9.

Behe, who has worked at Cowans Gap for 14 years, said the only drowning he is aware of took place in the 1930s.

He said he hears concerns from visitors about the absence of the lifeguards, but could not give a number. The concerned visitors are given an explanation of the pilot program and are told to take extra precautions while at the beach.

Connie Walters of Hagerstown said she would like to have lifeguards at the lake to help her watch her seven grandchildren.

“We’re always counting heads and get panic attacks if we don’t see one,” she said. “But, I guess everyone isn’t as obsessed as we are with watching the kids.”

Bonnie Ocker of Mercersburg, their other grandmother, said they haven’t had any scares with the children because they watch them so closely. They bring the children — who range in age from 2 to 8 — to Cowans Gap at least every other week when the weather cooperates.

Rana Mujib, who just moved to Chambersburg from Atlanta, Ga., said the lake should have lifeguards.

“Lifeguards are meant for saving lives. There are so many small children here,” he said, pointing to his own 8-year-old twin boys, Aleem and Azeem, and the seven other children in his extended family at Cowans Gap Monday afternoon.

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For more information on the open swim policy or your local state park, visit the DCNR Web site at:
www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks

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